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Ringo: No matter who tweeted slur, society has long way to go

By Kyle Ringo Buffzone.com

Posted:
06/07/2013 05:26:20 PM MDT

Updated:
06/07/2013 05:35:10 PM MDT

Kyle Ringo

Mike MacIntyre didn't sleep at all Thursday night. Colorado's football coach says he spent hours tossing and turning considering how he should respond to a racist remark posted on the Twitter page of CU recruit Sam Kronshage and his explanation for it.

He had come to only a few preliminary conclusions by midday Friday when he called several reporters who cover the Buffs on a regular basis to his office to outline the situation after the story began to take on a life of its own early Friday morning.

One of those conclusions is that MacIntyre is leaning heavily toward following in the footsteps of other college programs and banning his players from using Twitter. This is, after all, the second straight year a CU football recruit has found himself in serious trouble before stepping foot on campus because of the inappropriate use of his Twitter account. More on that later.

First, a little background.

Kronshage, a three-star offensive lineman from The Woodlands High School near Houston, became involved in an ugly war of words last weekend between players and fans of The Woodlands baseball team and a rival school, Rockwell, during a three-game series to determine which team would move on to the state Final Four.

Brandon Manger, a player on The Woodlands team, first began using racial slurs toward Rockwell center fielder Kendall Coleman, who is black. Soon after a post from Kronshage's Twitter account also directed to Coleman put him squarely in the conflict.

The post read. "You're a n-----. #Seasonover"

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Ordinarily, MacIntyre wouldn't have much option here. The only choice would be to call Kronshage, ask him about the post and if he admitted posting it, then pull his scholarship and cut ties with him.

Period.

But MacIntyre made that call and when he heard the explanation, the ugly situation became much more complicated.

Kronshage told MacIntyre that he wasn't at the baseball game. He was at a supervised post-graduation party where he was swimming. He said that while he was in the pool, someone used his phone to access his Twitter account and post the racist tweet. He did not know who used his phone.

When MacIntyre relayed this story to us Friday, my BS detector went nuts. It's seems like a pretty convenient excuse for a guy who was realizing he had just thrown away his future and was desperate to reclaim it.

But here is the thing. What if Kronshage is telling the truth?

Kronshage told MacIntyre that he tried to contact Coleman to explain what had happened and apologize but he couldn't get a response from Coleman. Kronshage later apologized to Coleman using his Twitter account to say "hey man, I've been trying to get ahold of you. Just wanted to say sorry for what happened on Saturday."

MacIntyre said he consulted his son, Jay, a senior-to-be at Monarch High School, and asked him if he had ever heard of such a thing and his son told him that kids play pranks on each other sometimes by accessing Twitter accounts of friends and posting things to make them look bad.

Obviously, these aren't the future doctors, astronauts and Harvard professors of the world.

MacIntyre said he has never had any reason to believe Kronshage is anything but an honorable young man with integrity and a good heart. He said there were no red flags about Kronshage that came up in recruiting and he pointed out that Kronshage committed to former CU coaches Kanavis McGhee and Jon Embree, both of whom are black.

It seems unlikely Kronshage would want to come to Boulder and play for a black coach if he truly harbors racial feelings or a racist agenda.

MacIntyre also noted emails he received from Kronshage's parents defending their son. The emails noted racism is not tolerated in the Kronshage family. They informed the coach that one of Kronshage's aunts is in an interracial marriage with a black man and that Kronshage has done charity work in high school for an organization that benefits people in Africa.

While all of this seems to suggest that Sam Kronshage is not racist and may not have sent the tweet, it's not definitive proof. A person can certainly have an uncle from a different race and still be a racist.

The reality is there simply isn't anyway to know what is in the heart of Sam Kronshage other than watching his actions over a prolonged period of time.

MacIntyre said he, interim athletic director Ceal Barry and other CU officials are investigating the matter and he will go along with whatever the school decides.

"I have to trust the young man and trust what's going on here," MacIntyre said. "I do believe them. So we're in the process of trying to make sure what we've been told is definitely real."

MacIntyre couldn't say how CU is going about doing that.

Under the CU code of student conduct, Kronshage would likely be suspended for at least a semester if not kicked out of school all together if the incident happened here in Boulder. But there lies an additional level of complication. Kronshage is not yet a CU student and this incident certainly didn't happen here.

It seems like it would be unfair for CU to take any action against Kronshage given those facts and considering there is at least some question about whether he even sent the offending tweet.

It would also directly contradict the school's decision to allow defensive back Yuri Wright into school a year ago when he was actually expelled from high school in the middle of his senior year for posting offensive and racially insensitive tweets over a period of months.

MacIntyre made it clear that if he knew definitively that any recruit or player was using racial slurs and acting in a discriminatory fashion, that player would lose their scholarship.

"It would definitely be some strict, strict discipline that would take place," MacIntyre said. "There is no call for any discrimination against any races or other situations in society. Period. Especially when you come here and you're trying to build a team and you're trying to build trust."

MacIntyre said he would immediately cut ties with Kronshage if he later learns that Kronshage has been dishonest at all in the process of reviewing the incident.

So it appears for now that Kronshage will be allowed to put this behind him and come to Boulder for football and an education.

It's despicable if Kronshage's story is true and someone nearly robbed him of the opportunity not to mention his good name.

But what is even more despicable is what we know happened. A young man in Texas endured humiliating and vile treatment by players and fans of a rival high school baseball team simply because of the color of his skin.

Considering the age of many of those involved, the fight against intolerance and ignorance suddenly seems a long way from over.

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